Presentations that provide misinformation or misrepresentations regarding charities are common. Awhile back I ran into this seemingly well-meaning Youtube video (below) that attempts to expose the dirty underbelly of charities. Normally, I don't promote content I see as wildly or widely off-base. However, in this case, I feel it's important to see the earnest and confidence of the presentation and still be able to peer through the facade to come face-to-face with the video's deep flaws.
I've worked with funding of charities in the past. After viewing this video, something just feels off about its presentation. It's as though Thought2 (pronounce "42") is trying to promote an agenda of lowkey fearmongering rather than provide accurate information.
Yes, administrative costs exist and are typically a large amount of where the donations are used in a well-run organization. However, this video makes it sound like there are dozens if not hundreds of people on charity payrolls. The truth is that most locally managed charities are scraping by with just a few people, who are often volunteers, in makeshift or hand-me-down office spaces.
Yes, some charities are short-sighted in their march to achieve artificially important goals. However, the video's example of water pumps drastically misses the point: most communities that were helped do have working water pumps, even if many do not.
The video's example regarding clothes and electronic donations is also far off the mark. As stated by another Youtube commenter (Tripe):
"Blaming the entire collapse of the Kenyan textile market on imports isn't reality. He does state "domestic market" at one point, but that isn't the data he presents. He blames charity for the loss of 500000 jobs, but those people were serving the entire industry, not only the domestic market. The same issues that lead to the collapse of exports were still affecting the domestic market as well. They've had loads of problems including tariffs, labor prices, port prices, high energy costs, stiff competition from Asian countries, corruption, outdated machinery, credit problems, trade reforms and more. I think it would be more accurate to say imports are one of the factors that lead to the downfall of the domestic textile market and are currently retarding the resurgence of the domestic textile market in Kenya, (if they have the leadership for such a resurgence), not the main cause of the collapse and the loss of 500000 jobs."
Also, I found the video's focus on Africa-support charities produces a dramatically skewed story. IRL, many charities are for local benefit, so don't have same economic effects about which this video speaks. Thoughty2 seems to be heavily focused on big-picture and grand-gesture charities. The charity rating services that are mentioned in the video are heavily focused on these types of charities too. This video makes no mention of rape crisis centers, suicide hotlines, or local food banks.
Oh, United Way also locally audits the charities that they support using similar criteria as the organization that this video promotes. United Way audits charities within each community separately. This means that even national organizations are audited at a local level to justify their funding in that area. The problem with organizations that publish charities ratings is that the numbers are often misleading, with too much emphasis placed on making "administrative costs" out to be a bad thing. Due to the nature of some charities and the location of the people they help, costs are naturally higher for some charities over others. United Way funds charities without making the mistake of assuming administrative costs are somehow bad just because.
I'm not sure if this video is well-intended, or if it intentionally misleads. Either way, in my opinion, this video is completely unreliable for the topic of charities and should not be used as a reference in discussions regarding charities.
